On March 8th every year, the world celebrates International Women’s Day, which aims to stand on the role of this soft power, and to emphasize that women are partners to men in the long journey towards progress and prosperity.
Libyan women have always been pioneers in demanding and obtaining freedoms and rights. The Parliament granted them the right to vote in 1963, that is, eight years before Swiss women, thanks to the efforts of the Libyan pioneers in the “Al-Nahda” association, headed by Khadija Al-Jahmi, who went out in continuous demonstrations until the endeavor was realized.
But the reality, today, expresses the extent of the disdain and neglect that women suffer in Libya, and in light of this chaos, women have not found a way to freely express themselves or their dreams. They have are now clinging to the hope that the conflicts in Libya will end in order to restore their important and essential role in the journey of change and construction.
While Libya has been plunged into wars and conflicts for ten years; Libyan women are trying hard to challenge the most difficult conditions in the country to create a better reality in light of countless financial, humanitarian, security and social crises.
At a time when the smell of gunpowder dominates the scene, many believe that it is difficult to delve into the discussion of women’s rights in Libya, at a time when they are unable to achieve their most basic rights as human beings.
